The Mrs. & the Minister

Priscilla Shirer's Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer is a book I've been waiting for for a long time.  In it, Shirer highlights a simple truth:  Prayer works. From the very beginning of Fervent , readers are taught all of the ways in which the Enemy attacks. There is a reason that in the New Testament military imagery for Christian life is even more popular than athletics.  Even after the victory of the cross, Christian life is a battle.  We don't walk it so much as run it and fight it. Throughout the book, Shirer then offers reflections on the methods the Enemy will use in all those ways.  She continually points to God's grace, all the while offering a guide to start writing our prayers to overcome all of the strategies with that grace. What disturbed me about the book, though, is that Shirer seems to believe the Enemy is just "out there".  More often the enemies are w...

The Devotional for Women is a new resource for Broadman & Holman that combines rich biblical insight into the patterns of women's real spiritual lives.  What Patterson and the others offer are 366 daily Bible devotions -- with space for personal reflections on the biblical text and the devotional -- that are written for women of any age, promoting a biblical view of womanhood. What I most love about this devotional is the rich diversity of biblical texts used -- from Genesis to Revelation -- that balance biblical insight with practical wisdom.  Women face so many of the same challenges reflected in these texts, and the authors have given visionary, creative and courageous spiritual advice in these pages. The book itself is durable, with a beautiful cover and ribbon marker -- all of which make The Devotional for Women that is usable as well as rich. I received a free copy of this book from B&H Publishers in exchange for my honest review here.

Born to Be Awkward is a collection of those pictures that I simply can't resist on Facebook -- photos of children whose awkward moments are memorialized and shared for the rest of us to chuckle and give thanks that our own photos have never seen the light of day. It's full of awkward childhood photos.  I was crying so hard from laughing when flipping through this book.  This book is 160 pages long and would make the perfect gift for any parents to be or even just a wonder coffee table book. Born to Be Awkward even has a place, in the back of the book, to share those personal photos -- so put them in, place them on the coffee table, and bring hours of laughter for friends and family. I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

Cute Emergency: Bad Day? The Doctor Is In by Tony Heally is a book for everyone's bad day.  Cute kittens with silly taglines, puppies tumbling all over themselves and hedgehogs and bunnies being both tiny and adorable fill these pages.  Cute Emergency separates these little furry friends into levels of emergencies.  From running out of your coffee all the way up to a bad breakup, the book is divided into levels of cuteness to combat the bad. I gave this book a test run at during my lunch break.  When given the option of stressing over that coworker or spending time with cute kittens, cute kittens always win.  Which is what makes Cute Emergency such a winner. This is a great book for that stress case in your life who needs a little cute therapy to get through the day. I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.

Stephanie Banyas' Treat is a real treat of a cookbook.  It's filled with 50 no-bake marshmallow treat recipes that aren't your average treats. From Salted Caramel, Dulce De Leche, Berry Cobbler, Strawberry Lemonade, Cookies and Cream and so much more -- these recipes are enough to catch your attention and make your mouth water.  Perhaps the recipe that caught my attention first was the recipe for homemade marshmallows!  There are recipes for original flavor, strawberry (and other fruit flavors) chocolate and cream cheese.  I intend to try the strawberry recipe soon . Each recipe tells how many it makes, what ingredients to use, and simplified instructions that even older kids will be able to understand.  The book itself is categorized to help chefs find the perfect treat recipe:  Marshmallows, Updated Classics, Candy-Store Favorites, Fruity Sweets, Chocolate Delights, and Holiday and Celebration Treats.  At first glance, I was surprised...

Chuck Sambuchino's When Clowns Attack: A Survival Guide is an insane little book!  It's a crazy idea, and I'm not sure what to make of all its claims.  But there's one thing I do know:  I hate clowns.  They scare me.  So this book was one that I just simply could not ignore. And October is just the month to read it.  Halloween inevitably brings out clowns in all shapes and sizes.  And each one, in its own way, is frightening for all the reasons Sambuchino lays out. But let me be honest:  This is not a book for those faint of heart people, like me, who are scared at the first sight of clowns.  Because this book is filled with pictures!  So, like me, you'll be kept up with insane images once you read through it. Exhaustingly researched, this little book will tell you all you need to know to defend you and your loved ones from the scourge that is clowns.  Their weapons.  Where they congregate.  How to get away from ...

Trevor Baxendale's Doctor Who: Deep Time is the first part of the Glamour Chronicles trilogy (all of which are due out this fall).  The storyline itself shouldn't be confused with the episode, "Deep Breath".  But this story involves a wealthy man (Raymond Balfour) and his hired crew going on an exploratory expedition on board his brand new ship the Alexandria.  Their mission?  To scope out a wormhole that was allegedly used by an ancient alien race known as the Phaeron.  To make matters more interesting, one of the crew members (Marco) is joining the trip to try and discover if there is a link between a missing ship (the Carthage) that contained his mother and the wormhole. As Whovian readers expect, Clara and the Twelfth Doctor manage to join the expedition as well.  The Doctor suspects bad things await the crew and he is hoping to protect them.  Alas, things spiral out of control once the Alexandria travels through the wormhole and cras...